The protagonist who hates losers is so sweet to me.

Chapter 41 - Strange man



The atmosphere dropped to its lowest point when Yu Qing said those words. The nearby assistant was so shocked that his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

He looked at Song Xinqi’s face, which had instantly darkened, and inwardly lit a candle for Yu Qing.

Although Chu Yuan hadn’t been around for long, he had come to understand Song Xinqi’s temper. Yu Qing’s words might not have been particularly aggressive, even sounding somewhat negotiable, but he was facing Song Xinqi—no one dared to speak to him like that.

Everyone had their thoughts, but they all agreed Yu Qing was in for a tough time.

Yu Xiaoxue broke free from the assistant girl’s arms, stood next to Yu Qing’s leg, and growled deeply at Song Xinqi.

Chu Yuan stepped in to mediate for him: “Yu Qing might be a bit nervous being questioned in front of so many people. He didn’t mean to say that.”

The assistant added, “Yeah, boss. He might just be interested in the lab building. Don’t take it personally.”

Song Xinqi hadn’t even spoken yet, and everyone was already rushing to defend Yu Qing.

His eyes darkened as he stared at him, not moving an inch. “I’ll give you one more chance to say that again.”

Yu Qing had already started feeling nervous after speaking, especially seeing Song Xinqi’s current near-explosive state.

But if he explained, it might resolve the situation, but then how would things be different from before?

Everyone was waiting for him to speak. He pointed to the lounge: “Why don’t we go over there and talk privately?”

“Speak here.”

He looked at Song Xinqi, though still frightened, his gaze was more serene: “I just feel that I don’t need to report everything to you anymore. You used to think I was a burden, and I was afraid of being a burden, so I did whatever you asked.”

It seemed like there was a big revelation, and everyone around perked up their ears.

In Song Xinqi’s moment of distraction, Yu Qing clenched his clothes tightly: “I’m weak and can’t help you much, but I do my best to repay the favor. But I also want my own life, my own friends, and a place to relax. We don’t have that kind of relationship anymore. What I do here doesn’t affect you.”

That kind of relationship? What kind of relationship? Everyone started speculating.

“I think this matter doesn’t concern you, so I don’t want to tell you.”

In just a few days of not seeing each other, Song Xinqi realized Yu Qing had changed. He used to be very scared of him, very compliant, but now, though still frightened, he wasn’t following his lead.

At this moment, Yu Qing was looking up at him, eyes clear as always, but lacking the previous dependency.

Hefinally realized Yu Qing no longer bore his personal label, a label he had personally torn off.

Without a word, he stepped forward. Yu Qing, frightened, backed away immediately, with Chu Yuan stepping between them: “Leader Song, he has made himself clear. Please don’t make it difficult for him.”

“Get out of the way.” Song Xinqi’s gaze finally shifted from Yu Qing, his eyes filled with unconcealed hostility towards Chu Yuan.

Chu Yuan stood there fearlessly, seemingly ready to confront him.

Song Xinqi didn’t care who he was; anyone blocking his path would pay the price. Aggressive mental force surged into Chu Yuan’s mind, his face turned pale, and he staggered, pushed aside by Song Xinqi.

The surrounding researchers screamed in shock. Chu Yuan was violently pushed down, his head hitting the edge of a table, causing his forehead to bleed.

“An initial-stage waste.” Song Xinqi sneered, glaring at the researchers who tried to help him, “I dare anyone to come closer.”

Anyone daring to approach him was caught in the tumultuous mental force. After two researchers fell, no one dared to move forward, only feeling anxious.

Song Xinqi’s gaze towards Chu Yuan was murderous, and he stepped towards him, only to be blocked by Yu Qing.

Yu Qing spread his arms, blocking him: “Song Xinqi, what are you trying to do?”

He couldn’t understand why, after agreeing to sever their mental link amicably, he had become like this.

“Aren’t you just mad that I don’t listen to you anymore? This has nothing to do with Chu Yuan. If you have an issue, take it up with me.”

Song Xinqi’s black eyes fixed on him, then suddenly shifted downwards. Yu Qing’s eyes widened in shock.

Yu Xiaoxue had lunged forward and bit Song Xinqi’s leg fiercely, growling continuously.

Though the miniature Yu Xiaoxue had limited damage capacity, being a mutant animal, it still caused his leg to bleed instantly, staining his pants.

The assistant was alarmed. Everyone’s attention had been on the three people, so no one had noticed Yu Xiaoxue.

It was over. The boss was bleeding. Now, even if Yu Qing and Yu Xiaoxue died here, the assistant wouldn’t be surprised.

The assistant girl was so frightened she started crying, collapsing to her knees.

Song Xinqi’s gaze at Yu Xiaoxue made Yu Qing’s heart race. In the next moment, he grabbed Yu Qing’s arm, dragging both him and the hanging Yu Xiaoxue toward the exit.

The pale-faced Chu Yuan was helped up by a researcher and told the others: “Go check on them.”

As they moved to leave, Song Xinqi’s assistant blocked them: “Sorry, the leader doesn’t want anyone to leave.”

“Let go of me.” Yu Qing struggled to break free from his grip, but his efforts were in vain.

Song Xinqi continued walking, ignoring his protests.

Seeing no escape, Yu Qing tried to use his powers, but as soon as they activated, they turned on himself, shrinking him instead of Song Xinqi.

The already large power gap became insurmountable. Song Xinqi easily carried the struggling miniature Yu Qing out of the lab building.

“Let go of me. Song Xinqi, what are you doing?”

Passersby stared in surprise but quickly turned away upon seeing Song Xinqi’s dark expression.

Yu Qing, using his free arm, tried to pry Song Xinqi’s fingers open, exhausting himself.

Desperation welled up in him. Song Xinqi wasn’t accepting his explanation. He might die here, but before that, he wanted Yu Xiaoxue to escape.

He pointed at the clinging Yu Xiaoxue, who suddenly grew to human size and roared, charging at Song Xinqi.

He hadn’t finished his command when the sharp claws slashed through the air. Song Xinqi dodged, his eyes darkening momentarily.

Panicking, Yu Qing returned to his normal size, biting Song Xinqi’s arm. Song Xinqi released his grip, a neat row of teeth marks on his hand.

“Yu Xiaoxue, stop fighting and run!” Yu Qing clung to Song Xinqi, trying to give her a chance to escape.

But Yu Xiaoxue didn’t follow his order, instead launching another attack on Song Xinqi.

With Yu Qing holding him, Song Xinqi barely avoided the attack, but his arm was scratched.

He pulled Yu Qing away, desperation filling Yu Qing: “Song Xinqi, please don’t hurt her. My life is yours; if you want me dead, so be it. Yu Xiaoxue doesn’t understand; she’s just trying to protect me.”

Hearing this, Song Xinqi’s surrounding atmosphere grew even more oppressive. Yu Qing had no idea what he was angry about, clinging tightly to him.

Chu Yuan arrived to see the blood-soaked street, pupils contracting as he pushed through the crowd.

The massive Yu Xiaoxue sat beside the unconscious Yu Qing, licking his face gently.

He approached, half-embracing Yu Qing, finding no injuries on him despite the disheveled appearance.

The blood on the ground was self-explanatory. He suppressed his emotions, carrying Yu Qing back to the lab building.

The strange incident quickly spread throughout the safe zone. Few saw Song Xinqi, and the rumors grew wild, saying he fought with his “vase,” blood everywhere, and someone even claimed to have seen Yu Qing’s corpse.

Meanwhile, the “corpse” Yu Qing was in the lab building, watching someone treat Chu Yuan’s head wound.

Seeing his guilty expression, Chu Yuan said kindly: “It’s not your fault. I’m just sorry I don’t have strong enough powers to protect you.”

Yu Qing shook his head: “You got dragged into this because of me. I’m the one who caused you trouble.”

Chu Yuan: “This incident will soon spread throughout the safe zone. Song Xinqi is the leader here, and with this conflict, your life here will be tough, but I’ll always be on your side.”
Returning from a mission, Peng Shu hurried to the research building, not even stopping to claim his reward. Learning that Yu Qing had already been sent back to his residence in Zone C, he rushed there.

“Yu Qing!”

Sitting on the bed, Yu Qing looked out the window to see Peng Shu, who was panting heavily and leaning on the iron gate.

As soon as he entered, he said, “I heard you had a big argument with Song Xinqi. Did he do anything to you?”

Yu Qing shook his head. “I’m fine.”

He was skeptical. He knew how terrifying Song Xinqi’s powers were, and there was no one in the entire safe zone who could confront him directly.

“Don’t worry. See? I’m perfectly fine.” Yu Qing hugged Yu Xiaoxue. “At that moment, I thought I was doomed, but Song Xinqi didn’t seem to do anything to me. Instead, he got bitten several times by Yu Xiaoxue.”

Peng Shu’s eyes were complicated. Yu Qing might be the only person who could fight Song Xinqi and not only come out unscathed but also injure him.

He asked, “What exactly happened? How did you end up fighting him?”

Yu Qing recounted the incident to him, sighing. “I still don’t understand why he got so angry. He’s really strange.”

Yu Qing, as the person involved, didn’t know, but Peng Shu, who had other thoughts, understood very well but didn’t intend to tell him. Instead, he agreed, “Indeed, it’s quite strange. You’ve probably completely fallen out with him today. I’ve heard a lot of people talking about you outside, and their comments aren’t very nice. Don’t take it to heart.”

Yu Qing had noticed the strange looks from people when he returned. Many seemed to be gloating or waiting for a show, believing that he wouldn’t survive long after offending Song Xinqi. Many people who used to greet him on the street now acted like they didn’t see him.

Peng Shu said, “But it’s okay. I’m not afraid of him. If anything happens in the future, you can tell me. I’ll do my best to help you.”

He often said things like this, and Yu Qing felt warm inside. Even though he had fallen out with Song Xinqi, he still had many friends willing to help him.

However, knowing Song Xinqi’s vengeful nature, he might come after him again in the future, so he had to be careful.

After chatting for a while, Peng Shu got up to leave. He had come just to check if Yu Qing was okay and, feeling reassured, he left.

Although he hadn’t heard the rumors himself, Yu Qing could sense the widespread nature of the incident, especially since several neighbors he used to get along with well had come to check on him shortly after he got home.

Before long, someone else knocked on his door. Seeing the visitor, he didn’t immediately open the door but looked at Wei Zheng outside with a wary eye.

Wei Zheng didn’t insist on coming in and handed a jar of ointment to him.

He didn’t take it. If it was from Song Xinqi, he suspected it might be poisoned. “I’m not hurt. I don’t need it.”

Wei Zheng paused, then stiffly said, “It’s not from the leader.”

Yu Qing’s eyes were full of suspicion.

“I don’t want it. Take it back.” he turned and walked away.

But the leader had indeed instructed Wei Zheng to ensure Yu Qing got the ointment, so he left it on a small table in the yard.

This incident fermented in the safe zone for three days, and Yu Qing heard several versions of the story. The most widespread one was that he had cheated on Song Xinqi while he was often away, and Song Xinqi caught them in the act. They fought out of love and hate, a melodramatic tale that left Yu Qing dumbfounded.

When he went out to take on tasks, he could feel the various strange looks from all directions and hear people talking.

“That’s him. He really looks like trouble. No wonder he cheated on the boss.”

“He’s still alive? I heard the boss tore him and his lover to pieces.”

“Yeah, how can the boss tolerate someone who cheated on him?”

Yu Qing: “…”

His reputation had been completely ruined by Song Xinqi.

Everyone thought he wouldn’t survive long, but he made it to the next week unscathed. He had initially thought Song Xinqi would come for revenge, but nothing happened.

After some inquiries, he found out that Song Xinqi had left again. It seemed he didn’t have the energy to deal with him for now, so he could live peacefully for a while.

Outside, countless clods of earth rose up, isolating part of a zombie horde.

A snow-white figure ran past, followed by a dense group of zombies.

“Yu Qing, the zombies are coming!” Peng Shu shouted from the other side.

Yu Qing crouched, holding Yu Xiaoxue tightly, and turned to shrink the zombies behind him. A wall of earth rose under his feet, and as Yu Xiaoxue leapt out, the wall quickly grew higher, trapping the pursuing zombies.

At the same time, Peng Shu activated his powers, and intense electrical sounds came from within the walls.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Yu Qing panted and stopped, seeing Peng Shu electrocute the zombies again.

“Well done,” Brother Ye said, running over. “But Yu Qing, are your powers running low? The zombies didn’t shrink as much as they used to.”

Yu Qing dismounted from Yu Xiaoxue, looking at the zombies convulsing within the walls. He used his power on Yu Xiaoxue again, turning her into a doll-sized version. Comparing the tiny Yu Xiaoxue and the nearly waist-high zombies, he was puzzled.

“I feel quite energetic, but the power seems much weaker on the zombies.”

He had felt this way for days, initially not noticing, but now he could only shrink the zombies to waist height despite his efforts.

However, this only applied to zombies; he could still transform other things as usual.

Peng Shu came over, looking serious. “I don’t think it’s Yu Qing’s problem.”

He had sensed it too.

Peng Shu looked at the charred zombies in the pit. He used to be able to wipe them out with one full-powered strike, but now he needed two to ensure they were all dead.

He said, “It seems like the zombies have developed resistance to our powers.”

“I’ll get some blood samples to check.” Yu Qing remembered and quickly went into the wall to collect some.

He handed the blood samples to the research building, explaining his purpose. The researchers immediately extracted and analyzed the samples, coming back with results.

After reading the blood report, Chu Yuan said to him, “The zombies have indeed become stronger and developed some resistance to your powers.”

“So Peng Shu was right.” Getting confirmation, Yu Qing felt a bit heavy-hearted. It seemed their peaceful days were coming to an end.

He leaned out the window, seeing a crowd gathered below. “What’s happening over there?”

Chu Yuan also looked and soon found out the answer.

A researcher rushed over and said to him, “A zombie got into the safe zone, but someone spotted it in time and killed it. Otherwise, it could have caused serious problems if it had injured anyone.”

Chu Yuan frowned. “How did it get in?”

The person replied, “It seems it climbed over the outer wall.”

This was the first time a zombie had climbed into the X safe zone.

It was like a wake-up call. That afternoon, all earth-powered users received a mandatory task to raise the outer walls of the safe zone.

A few days later, the walls were twice as high, enclosing the safe zone.

From his home, Yu Qing could see the walls towering over the low buildings, now ten meters high and set to grow even higher in the future.

The days when humans had the upper hand in the apocalypse officially ended that day.

“It’s too dangerous outside recently. Zombies are developing resistance to our powers. Try to avoid taking tasks that involve clearing zombie hordes,” Peng Shu told him.

He agreed. His power was only level two, significantly weakened by the zombies, unlike Peng Shu’s level three power, which wasn’t as affected yet.

After giving up clearing tasks, he had fewer tasks to choose from. Over the next few days, besides collecting crystal cores, he only got a gatekeeping task.

Since Song Xinqi took over the safe zone, its order had improved, and gatekeeping mainly involved task registration and point calculation, making it an easy job that even Yu Qing could handle.

Gatekeeping could be either very relaxed or very busy, surrounded by various noises.

Returning ability users from the wild complained to their companions about the increasingly tough zombies, and some rushed back to the safe zone, barely escaping death, ignoring their rewards.

Yu Qing’s face was now well-known in the safe zone. People registering tasks often took an extra look at him and whispered but he was used to it.

Fortunately, with Yu Xiaoxue by his side, people only talked but didn’t cause much trouble, and he just pretended not to hear.

The morning passed peacefully in this busy-quiet cycle. The gatekeeping task lasted all day, and in the afternoon, Yu Qing encountered a weary survivor from the wild.

He took out a form from a drawer. “The safe zone doesn’t accept anyone below level two powers. Please fill out this form.”

The person wrote quickly, hesitating a bit at the power section before writing “

level two water power.”

The person’s name was Fan Yibin, and he chose the living department. Yu Qing checked and found no problems, saying, “Someone will come to register you soon. Please wait here.”

Fan Yibin waited for a while, then suddenly asked, “Who is the most powerful person in this safe zone?”

Yu Qing found it strange but answered, “That should be our leader.”

Fan Yibin’s voice was extremely hoarse. “What’s your leader’s name?”

“Song Xinqi.”

“What’s his power?”

Feeling even more puzzled, he still answered, “Level three mental power.”

The person seemed to smile. He had been keeping his head down, but now he looked up, his bloodshot eyes staring at Yu Qing, his hoarse voice giving off a creepy vibe. “Do you know where he is?”

“He’s not in the safe zone right now.” Yu Qing sensed something off about this person, and just as he started to get suspicious, the person in charge of registration arrived.

Fan Yibin didn’t ask further and left with the registrar.

What a strange person.

——————–https://ko-fi.com/quarinnah


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